Joy Behar may owe Queen Latifah’s grandma one of her famous lasagnas after accidentally spoiling for her that The Equalizer had ended on The View.
The 82-year-old panelist dropped the unintentional spoiler about the CBS series, which ended after five seasons in May, during Latifah’s visit to the Hot Topics table on Tuesday.
“So, let’s talk about your other show The Equalizer which came to an end,” Behar began. “It ended after five seasons. That’s very good. That’s a long time. You always said that the show’s biggest fan was your 97-year-old grandma, who enjoyed watching you kick some butt. So when it was over, how did she take it?”
ABC
Latifah hesitated for a moment after Behar posed the question, shooting a quick glance over at the camera before ultimately deciding that honesty was the best policy. “Sorry, Nana, I couldn’t tell you!” she confessed as the rest of panel burst into laughter. “You finally have found out and I’m so sorry!”
Latifah put her head in her hands. “I didn’t know how to say it!” she explained. “So thank you, Joy, for telling Nana.”
Behar appeared surprised to be the one to tell Latifah’s grandmother that her favorite show had ended months ago. “Oh, I’m sorry,” she awkwardly replied, giving a slightly shocked look to her fellow costars.
As cohost Sunny Hostin pointed out that Latifah’s grandmother “can watch the re-runs” of the series whenever she’d like, Behar jumped back in to remedy the issue.
“I take it back! It’s still on the air, Nana!” she exclaimed. “It’s still there! It’s not over!”
“She can definitely watch the re-runs,” a laughing Latifah agreed. “And still enjoy her granddaughter kick some behind for justice.”
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Latifah previously detailed her grandmother’s deep love for The Equalizer and all of its intense action sequences during a visit to The Late Show in 2022.
“She is in that recliner, watching that show every Sunday,” the Grammy winner said of her grandmother at the time. “She’s like, ‘I just love that show. I just love the action! I just love all that action!’ It’s so funny.”
Barbara Nitke/CBS
A reboot of the original 1985 television series, The Equalizer followed Latifah’s former CIA operative Robyn McCall as she used her skills to help others. After reports that the crime drama had been canceled in May, the “U.N.I.T.Y” rapper paid tribute to the series and her character in a poignant Instagram post.
“Stepping into a kick-ass role like Robyn was everything I hoped it would be,” Latifah wrote. “[My producing partner] Shakim [Compere] and I at Flavor Unit are always excited to bring these kinds of roles and projects to life — and then we just hope you love them as much as we do. The Equalizer blew past every dream we had for it, and having the opportunity to do this for five seasons honestly feels surreal.”
She continued, “Thank you to our amazing cast, crew, and producers and writers! And I can’t say enough about the FANS! Y’all have been so loyal, so loud, and so ride-or-die—and that’s exactly why we keep doing this. We can’t thank you enough. It means the world to us.”
